In co-pending, parent application Ser. No. 10/762,800, there is disclosed a surface wave energy conversion system comprising two separate, but interacting components, each for capturing energy from surface waves.
A first of the system components comprises a generally annular float and the second component comprises an elongated spar float extending through the opening through the annular float. As explained in the parent application, the two floats tend to bob up-and-down in out of phase relation, and the resulting relative movements between the floats are used for driving an energy converter, for example, a linear electrical generator, for generating useful energy. An object of the present invention is to provide means for controlling, at least to some extent, the mechanical impedances of the conversion system for optimizing the efficiency of the energy conversion process.